


Hey, Good Lookin’. Whatcha Got Cookin’?

by Ultra



Category: Leverage
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Character Study, Cooking, Gen, Grumpy Eliot, Watching, naked
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-12
Updated: 2012-12-12
Packaged: 2018-08-11 05:06:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7877638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eliot in the kitchen, and everybody is watching... but why specifically today?</p>
<p>(Originally written for scout_lover)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hey, Good Lookin’. Whatcha Got Cookin’?

Eliot knew when he was being watched. Years of training helped, but his instincts had always been sharp. Whether he was in the field of battle, or just here in the kitchen making dinner, he knew when eyes were on him. Of course, Parker and Hardison were a whole lot less dangerous than rogue snipers and such. He didn’t have to worry about them watching usually, but he would rather they weren’t doing so today. He would also rather they didn’t try to hide it. That was the really aggravating part.

Truth was, it was fun to watch Eliot cook. Almost as much fun as it was to watch him fight. When the hitter was caught up in his work for the team, it was like watching a dance. The perfect timing of the finely executed moves, hair flying, feet shifting, like a whirlwind of highly-toned muscle and grace. Yeah, that was something to see, no question about it, but it was oddly appealing to watch the guy work in the kitchen too.

Ask a person to explain why the sight of a tough guy in an apron made them weak at the knees and they probably couldn’t do it, but that wouldn’t make the fact any the less true. Eliot made kitchen cover-wear sexy, that was the long and the short of it, and it was a fact that neither had an explanation for, nor needed one.

The guy moved around the kitchen as expertly as he moved amongst targets in a fight. Vegetables chopped, meat flipped in the pan, trash discarded, all fluid and exact. He handled a knife and a hot situation as well here as anywhere, that was the truth, and watching him do so was oddly therapeutic. He didn’t know why they thought so any more than they did, and mostly Eliot didn’t mind anyway. Still, tonight was different, and his audience was less welcome than they might’ve been any other time. Sure, one in the ceiling vents and one spying by remote camera was better than the two of them hanging around getting under his feet, but that wasn’t really the point.

Eliot puts on his glasses to read the fine print in the cookery book. The ambient lighting wasn’t great when the text was so small, and though the meal was easy to cook without instruction, you can’t screw up baking. The cake for dessert is as important as the rest and he’s not about to let vanity mess it up for him. Yep, he’d memorised the right cooking time, a few more minutes to go.

The pan on the far left of the stove starts fizzing then, a noise that would bother Eliot if it wasn’t done on purpose, if that was one of his good pans. As it is, it’s one of Nate’s cheap skillets, and he’s actually aiming for the acrid smoke that curls up from the bottom. Carefully picking up the pan he deliberately waves it under the air vent until he hears coughing and choking. Parker won’t be harmed, but she will leave him alone after this. Just as soon as he hears her scurry away, he puts the pan down, hard, right where he knows Hardison’s so-called ‘hidden’ camera is. There’s a distinctive crack and he knows it’s ruined, his audience all gone.

Eliot allows himself a grin as he leans down to retrieve his cake from the oven. There was no way he was bending anywhere with people watching, given the circumstances. There were some things a necessary apron just didn’t cover.

“Mmm, it all smells good,” said Sophie as she wandered into the kitchen, making Eliot glad he’s upright again.

“It always does,” Nate agreed as he joined her.

There was a smirk on the mastermind’s lips that Eliot would like to wipe off, but he holds firm, let it go. After all, he lost the bet. It was only fair he take his punishment.

“I said I’d do this, and I’m doin’ it,” the hitter told them coolly. “Nobody said I had to have company,” he said pointedly.

“Now where’s the fun in making you cook naked if we can’t watch,” Sophie grinned, peering around to see his behind.

Eliot looked affronted, and to be honest, so did Nate!

Oh, this was the last time Eliot ever agreed to play chess against Nate when the stakes got stupid. The very last time.


End file.
